From The Field: Lyons Peak Lightning Strike Seen from Comms Antenna Tower

Date: 2015-09-28

In an evocative image, one of the antenna-mounted observation cameras on Southern California’s High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN) captures a lightning strike on Thurs, Sept. 20, 2010. These cameras have been installed in strategic locations on remote mountain tops, overlooking vast areas of mountainous brush and chaparral, and are often used by firefighters to confirm the location or status of an active wild fire, as well as by news organizations and the general public. The weather stations can provide real-time, up-to-the-second wind data via user interfaces and support monitoring of highly localized weather conditions in fire-prone regions as well as research into the formation and prediction of wildfires.

HPWREN is a project of the Applied Network Research (ANR) group at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego, to support Internet-data applications in the research, education, and public safety realms.

The network spans from San Clemente Island in the Pacific Ocean, via the southern California coast to the inland valleys, east toward the mountain elevations of more than 8,700 feet, and the remote desert, reaching almost to the Arizona border. The network's longest link is 72 miles in distance, from the San Diego Supercomputer Center to San Clemente Island.